Superfat....

[Crafty1]

I am aware of the reason why many superfat, but what i would like to know is, when one superfats is it a longer curing time? is the soap normally real soft? if so, what can be added to possible speed up the time it takes to harden the soap?

[mountainmadness]

A water discount can help. I do a 5% superfat.

I will give you the meaning....

When you use your lye calculator, you are figuring how much lye is needed to bond to ALL of the oil molecules... when you superfat, you are adding less lye so some of the oil molecules are not bonded with the sodium hyroxide molecule and you are getting some benefits from the oil. You want to be careful to not over do it with the superfatting or you will not have enough lye to turn your oils into soap....

I hope that helps with the explanation.

[Crafty1]

let me make sure i am understanding you are you saying that if i superfat say 5% then I reduce the lye by that amount and do a water discount? if i am on point, do i also discount the water by 5%

[RobinInOR]

Superfatting at a higher % doesn't always give you softer soap, but it can. I know some soapers that soap at 10% lye discount/superfat, and that 10% of oils remaining in the bar *might* make it softer.

Don't confuse lye discount/superfat with water discount - they aren't really tied at all.

Most calculators will give you lye amounts for discounts - the MMS calculator shows all the lye discounts from 0% up through 10% I believe.

The higher the discount, the less lye, the more oil left, the more moisturizing the bar, the less lather.

The lower the discount, the more lye, less oil is left, bar is less moisturizing.

The biggest thing I've seen to help the cure time is to reduce the amount of water in the recipe.